Silence like a cancer grows!

Every year around this time I am reminded of a classic message to his Australian parliamentary colleagues in 2019 by the Honourable David Templeman, the minister for Culture and Arts. He decided to do it in song with a reworking of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence.” “And in this Parliamentary hall are a dozen members, maybe more; members talking without speaking; members hearing without listening; members giving speeches that no one ever hears, And no one cares; that’s what it’s like in Parliament: So, Mr Speaker close the gates; do it now lest its too late. Get the crayfish and the sparkling wine; all the members form a Congo line: And the Christmas message is written on the Parliamentary walls and the Christmas balls: Merry Christmas from Parliament. Merry Christmas Everybody!” The Mandurah Mail captioned the event “David’s got talent: Mandurah MP signs off another year of parliament with Impressive song”!

I am always reminded of SVG when I listen to this; not necessarily of parliament although the lyrics might fit perfectly, but of SVG! I always thought that we needed a good, humorous comic writer to describe life in this land we call Home of the Blessed. With this I turn back to the invasion of Anguilla on March 19, 1969. A group of about 600 British bobbies were quickly pulled together to be sent to Anguilla to take control of a disturbance that had taken place there as Anguilla revolted from the St.Kitts/Nevis/ Anguilla federation. These British bobbies had no clue where Anguilla was, as might have been so with those who were sending them on that mission.

As soon as they landed, they heard what seemed to have been a loud explosion. They lowered themselves on the ground with their guns drawn. They found out shortly after that the sound had come from someone on an old motorbike. So much for that. After a couple days they began to wonder why they were sent there because they detected no sign of any disturbance that called for military intervention. This event was given full comic treatment in a book “Under an English Heaven” written by American comic writer, Donald Westlake. The cover of the book had a photograph of a number of the bobbies in the sea, naked, with only their heads covered by their Bobbie helmets. Time Magazine dubbed the event “Britain’s Bay of Piglets”. The New York Times stated, “The British Lion has subdued the Anguillan mouse that roared.”

After being here for just under three months the Taiwanese Ambassador on Taiwan’s National Day said that SVG was punching above its weight globally. I was not sure how we were meant to take this, for its one thing to punch but what is critical is your ability to take a punch. Let us remember the African proverb, “When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers” We have to realise too that when elephants make love it is also the grass that suffers.

Calypsonian Abijah is convinced that St. Vincent is not a Real Place! Jomo Thomas in a recent article states, “It is as if we live in an Orwellian world where reality stands on its head. Underdevelopment means progress. Stagnation is celebrated as development, mediocrity is hoisted as excellence, revolution is reduced to a word, and leadership becomes a smiling photo op.”

How seriously do we take ourselves? We seem to live in a fantasy world and try to escape from our real environment which we know only too well. Silence prevails in the face of serious issues. 54 murders/homicides are before us as I write. I hear some slightly different figures from the police and am unsure how they distinguish homicides from murders. Our national debt is now over two billion dollars, the external debt is listed as 73.9 per cent of the total. Total debt service for 2024 will be 37 per cent of current revenue. I am not sure how real are these figures! How will we address these matters? Yet silence prevails and according to Jomo Thomas Orwellian thought prevails. Perhaps I should end with what I started, quoting from Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence.”

“Fools”, said I, “You do not know Silence like a cancer grows. People writing songs that voices never share. No one dared Disturb the Sound of Silence.” A Blessed 2024. Only possible if we leave our Silence with 2023!

• Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian